Shopsmith Forums

I have the Shopsmith sharpening guide and have watched videos at you tube on how to use it. The chisels do not seem very sharp when I am done grinding. Anyone with experience that give me some tips? Possibly use a wet stone or something to get them sharper. Any tips would be appreciated. Larry

I gave mine away. Get a slow speed grinder and a Wolverine jig. You will be happier.

Sorry, Chris...not trying to start anything, but just offering a second perspective on the sharpening jig.

I like mine, and most of the time I have it set up on a second auxiliary table to the left of the headstock. I like it for touching up turning tools, mostly. As far as chisels, I think of the sharpening jig as a grinding jig. If a bevel needs correcting or a ding needs to be ground out, it works for me. And the grinding can be done at slow speed, which is nice. After the bevel is restored, I have a Veritas guide and a set of diamond stones to get the chisels sharp. So, the sharpening jig is just the first step in a process.

Ed. I am considering some type of veritas jig for my lathe chisels. I have a cheaper one that I use for my hand plane chisels that works pretty well. Do you sharpen any other lathe tools other than the skews? Do you have a jig to sharpen the gouges and the round nose chisels. Thanks Larry

Larry; First, Shopsmith has some great resources for all sorts of information, including sharpening, on their website. Check out this link: https://www.shopsmith.com/woodshoptips/ ... /index.htm Hopefully some of your questions will be answered there.

As far as what I do for turning tools, well as I mentioned, I do use the SS guide for many of the lathe tools. It works for the scrapers, the roughing gouge, the parting tool and the skew. I use 150 grit on the sanding disk and the tools work fine right off the jig, except for the scrapers. For them, once the angle is touched up, I use a burnishing jig from Veritas for establishing the burr. After that, the scrapers cut fast and clean. To create the "fingernail" profile on your spindle gouges, the easiest way is to follow Chris' advice and get a Wolverine jig and a grinder to match it. If you would like to try your hand on an alternative method, one which will require climbing a little bit of a learning curve, you might try the method shown in Keith Rowley's book "Woodturning-A Foundation Course." This is a great book, by the way, and has helped me quite a bit. In it, Rowley describes a simple table he attaches to a bench grinder and a method of grinding that will result in a mild fingernail profile. For bowl gouges I use the "good, general profile" that Rowley shows on page 91of the 2009 edition of his book. It is fairly easy to grind this using the shopsmith grinding wheel with the wooden table. Hope this is helpful.

Thanks Ed I will probably get the book. I am going to try a Thompson finger nail gouge and sharpen it with a gouge stone. I have been turning quite a while and have always had trouble sharpening the chisels. I am a little better but would like to get more efficient. I have been turning segmented bowls and like the different designs. That Shop Smith grinder looks interesting. I may try to find one because of the ability to slow the speed down. Larry

I had two Shopsmith sharpening guides, gave one away, and don't use the other one. I have been looking at the Oneway - Wolverine Grinding Jig. Has anyone used it? https://www.woodcraft.com/products/onew ... KgEALw_wcB

I purchased a oneway jig to sharpen my lathe tools. It included on jig. The add did not say you another have to buy a different jig to sharpen gouges 3/4 inch or larger. The jig works well but I don't care for their business practices. Larry

As a beginning turner I would love to find one of these sharpening guides somewhat cheaper than new

WoOdbEmE33 wrote: ↑Sun May 29, 2022 12:42 pm As a beginning turner I would love to find one of these sharpening guides somewhat cheaper than new

For sharpening bowl gouges, you can't get cheaper than this one.



Set up for a grinding wheel



If you want to use your belt sander or strip sander